Positive move

PEOPLE from all over the world will gather to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. In a spirit that cuts across narrow partisan divisions, which is rare in today’s environment, political leaders both from the Centre and Punjab, along with religious leaders, will be together on the stage. This is the way it ought to be. However, recent politicking and bickering between various political parties, particularly the Congress on one side and the Akali-BJP combine on the other, have raised the unholy spectre of a distastefully fragmented event.

Guru Nanak’s message of universal brotherhood finds resonance far beyond his followers, the Sikhs. The values advocated by Guru Nanak need to be followed, more so in these disturbed times. Credit for reaching out would go to Capt Amarinder Singh, who went the extra mile. President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, all have accepted the Punjab Government’s invitation to attend the Sultanpur Lodhi celebrations. The SAD announced that it had already invited the President and the Prime Minister. Such one-upmanship needs to be eschewed.

Now, more than ever, coordination between the state government and the SGPC, and thus the SAD, will need to be strengthened to ensure that various irritants are overcome graciously. Statements by both SAD and Congress leaders have betrayed a particularly myopic view focused more on ‘taking credit’ than taking concrete steps that would enrich the celebrations. The eyes of the world will be on what happens at Sultanpur Lodhi. It would be deeply distressing if partisan sniping were to detract from the main event. People who jostle for their spot in the sun must remember that the focus of the event is a celebration of the Guru and his teachings, which guide us to take the path of honest living and sharing. Let the spirit of ‘seva’ prevail among all those who celebrate the birth anniversary of the founder of Sikhism.